Twins Flashback Friday: April 27, 1994 (Scott Erickson No-Hits the Brewers at the Metrodome)
Join Brandon as he talks a walk down Minnesota Twins memory lane
One of my favorite offseason activities is tracking down old Twins games and different sorts of things to check out while passing the time between seasons.
Every week — or as often as I remember — we’ll post a “Twins Flashback Friday” where we’ll close out every week with a fun bit of Twins nostalgia that I find during the rest of the workweek.
This time it’s a very significant game in Twins history, from April 1994. If you don’t know where we’re headed, you will soon.
One of my all-time favorite VHS tapes I had as a kid — yes, that dates me a bit — was a taped version of Scott Erickson’s no-hitter. In fact, I think it was a replay from about a week later that my grandma had taped for us.
Unlike what I’m going to share with you today, it had all of the commercial breaks and I still remember them so vividly, like Tom Gegax as the spokesperson for Tires Plus, the turtle dancing out of his shell in a nearby casino commercial and people in a bar/restaurant talking about some of the biggest moments in Twins history. “Bob Allison’s catch, Game 2, ‘65!” I recall the older man saying as the commercial ended.
I know my brother Cody can go blow-for-blow with everything I say and probably then some — we notoriously remember things like this but not what was for breakfast this morning — and I know he especially will enjoy this post, even without all of the commercials that take us back to being 6- and 8-year-old boys that spring.
But until just recently, all I could find on YouTube were short clips. Here, MLB has the last out of the game:
And here, we have Twin Cities legend Mark Rosen doing postgame coverage for WCCO-TV (we also see a fresh-faced Joe Schmit in the shot):
But in the last few days, I got an excellent notification — that the full video, sans commercials, had been uploaded. I was so dang excited to watch this again, and I hope you are too.
Let’s talk to it:
The pitching matchup: Scott Erickson vs. Jaime Navarro
Starting Lineups:
Yes, I deliberately snapped this picture so everyone could see Alex Cole rocking his Dwight Schrute glasses.
And since I love these graphics, here’s the Twins’ defensive look as well:
I initially wanted to do GIFs but being the dummy that I am, couldn’t figure out how to crop everything so here are some highlights of things I noticed (just click play and it will take you to the spot I’m referring to):
Here, Erickson is running off the mound after the first inning. For some reason, I feel like every single time they got this shot of him, it looked exactly like this.
And here, I just wanted you all to see Kirby Puckett’s ridiculous bat flip on his second ground-rule double of the game. Incredible.
The location: H.H.H. Metrodome
The date: April 27, 1994
The records (entering play): Brewers (11-8) at Twins (7-14)
Click here for the Baseball Reference box score.
Curiosities:
All 10 players who started the game ended it for the Twins. No substitutions at all. This marked one of four times all season the Twins did this (of course, all complete games — by either Erickson or Kevin Tapani).
Kirby Puckett was incredible, going 4-for-5 with two ground-rule doubles in the game. In true Kirby fashion, he did so on just nine pitches.
Erickson didn’t have the greatest command, throwing 128 pitches but just 71 strikes (55.5 percent).
The game featured Kent Hrbek (retirement) and Dave Winfield (trade, not really/maybe?) in their final seasons with the Twins.
Hrbek homers in the third inning, the 285th of his career. He hit just eight more home runs in his career.
A field mic picks up Brewers manager Phil Garner shouting “c’mon now!” to starter Jaime Navarro when he walks in a run in the bottom of the first.
In what amounts to a round peg in a square hole, Brian Harper is playing not for the Twins and not at catcher — but right field and for the Brewers in this one, an odd combination for his age, range and the fast AstroTurf (which becomes obvious on an Alex Cole triple).
Dick Bremer and Tommy John have a long, in-depth discussion about Richard Nixon — whose funeral was being held that evening in Yorba Linda, Calif. — about baseball. John said he frequently talked baseball, and never politics, with the 37th president of the United States. One story John recalls is that Nixon told him if you want to know how well a hitter is striking the ball, look at how many doubles he has. I suppose that’s true enough in the days before we knew exit velocity.
John makes a reference to “the guy who’s been playing there for 125 years” when Billy Spiers smashes a liner to Scott Leius for the second out of the game. Two things: first, I now understand the reference is that’s right where the third baseman has played all these years. Secondly, I met Leius at the UPS Store I managed in Plymouth maybe 10-12 years ago. I told him I was a big fan, and when he gave me a skeptical eye to match his gruff, New York voice and demeanor, I told him “No, like I remember the line drive you caught in the first inning of Erickson’s no-hitter.” “Spiers,” he says, locking eyes with me, then smiling. Ever since that day I have enjoyed my interactions with Mr. Scott Leius.
In addition to former Twin Harper, future Twins Jesse Orosco and Mike Fetters appear for the Brewers. Former Twin Tom Brunansky played for the Brewers briefly that season as well, as did future Twin Jeff Cirillo. Future MLB manager Mike Matheny was also on that team for a spell, making his big-league debut with the Brewers just 20 days before the no-hitter.
The Twins got hammered by the Brewers the next night, 12-2. Carlos Pulido went five innings before Mike Trombley, Larry Casian and Keith Garagozzo got smoked for eight earned runs over the final four. If you don’t remember Garagozzo, it’s for good reason. The Twins took him in the 1993 Rule 5 draft. That was his final big-league game, and he threw just 9.1 big-league innings (all with the Twins in 1994). The Twins returned him to the Yankees on May 4.
So sit back and enjoy Scott Erickson no-hitting the Brewers: